The subject matter disclosed herein relates to medical imaging and, more particularly, to assessing the use of various probes and biomarkers for imaging.
Medical imaging technologies are often used to non-invasively visualize the anatomic and/or metabolic condition of a patient. Traditional imaging technologies rely on nonspecific physical, physiological, or metabolic changes to provide contrast between normal and pathological tissues. In some circumstances, molecular imaging technologies may use specific molecular probes that identify molecular events or attributes that are specific to disease progression (i.e., a biomarker). The probe or a metabolic byprodcut of the probe may then be imaged to provide information about the corresponding biomarker. Therefore, molecular imaging provides a means for non-invasive disease detection, characterization, and therapy monitoring.
However, a suitable probe and/or biomarker may not always be available or known for a given imaging modality (such as positron emission tomography (PET), single positron emission computed tomography (SPECT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and so forth). With regard to the biomarker, to be useful, the concentration of the biomarker should be above the sensitivity limit of the imaging modality and change significantly with the disease progression. With regard to the probe, the probe should have the ability to reach the biomarker, bind strongly to the biomarker, and clear from all surrounding tissues in order to provide good contrast. Further, the kinetics of probe delivery, binding, and clearance may be important factors in view of the particular imaging modality in question. In the absence of a suitable probe and biomarker combination, it may not be possible to successfully utilize an imaging modality to visualize the presence or progression of a biological condition, such as cancer, Alzheimer's disease or atherosclerosis.